Julie Bishop says there was nothing unusual about her chief of staff attending a meeting of Turnbull plotters on the eve of the leadership spill insisting he was there on a reconnaissance mission and not working to oust Tony Abbott.

The deputy leader of the Liberal Party was under pressure from her own colleagues on Thursday to say whether Murray Hansen's attendance at the Sunday evening gathering in September meant she was also actively involved in knifing the former prime minister.

The group included Mr Turnbull and his chief number-crunchers, including New South Wales senator Arthur Sinodinos, Victorian senator Scott Ryan and Queensland senator James McGrath. Former cabinet minister Mal Brough and Wyatt Roy also attended. On the night they agreed they had the numbers to challenge Mr Abbott and would strike on Monday.

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Liberal Senator Eric Abetz called on Ms Bishop to explain and suggested her previous accounts of her actions in the lead-up to the spill may not have been entirely accurate.

Mr Hansen waited until Monday morning to tell the Deputy Leader that the group was planning to attack. Ms Bishop also defended Mr Hansen's attendance at the meeting as him simply doing his job as chief of staff to the deputy leader.

"I was aware that my chief of staff was going to drinks at Peter Hendy's place," she said.

"When I learned who was there on the Monday morning and when cabinet ministers came to see me I made the first opportunity available to see the prime minister," she said.

"It is part of my job to be in touch with members of the backbench either through my staff or personally and that is what I do," she said.

Ms Bishop said it was up to all members of the leadership team, including Senator Abetz, who was the leader of the government in the Senate at the time, to keep their ears to the ground and warn the prime minister about any looming problems.

<!--[if gte mso 9]><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>Normal0falsefalsefalseEN-AUJAX-NONE<![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]><![endif]--><!--StartFragment-->"Its the job of every member of the leadership team: the leader of the senate, the leader of the house, the deputy prime minister, the deputy leader, the prime minister to know what the backbench is thinking and that's precisely what I was doing," she said.